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[Posted on Fri, June 2 2006]
Sex-Murder CaseSource: TheKansasCityChannel.com web site
POSTED: 2:58 pm CDT June 2, 2006
UPDATED: 9:42 pm CDT June 2, 2006
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- KMBC's Jim Flink reported that when video images are fuzzy, local law enforcement brings the video to the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensic Lab.
This week alone, there have been several high-profile cases in which video has been central to the case.
More than 22 tapes in the Richard Davis and Dena Riley case are in the hands of the FBI.
The couple is charged in the death of Marsha Spicer, whose sexual assault and torture was videotaped. According to court documents, Davis and Riley also admitted to their involvement in the death of Michelle Ricci, 36. Investigators said Ricci was seen on one of the videotapes.
On Friday, forensic examiner Melissa Hamely was trying to help Buckner police with a fraud case. Detective Scott Lambert hopes that Hamley can help him get a better look at the suspect, but they encountered a problem. The digital video was compressed to a point that it could no longer be enhanced.
Flink reported that in a lot of crimes this week, video has helped, like a lawyer abducted in Alabama. She was found safe hours later, thanks in large part, to enhanced surveillance video.
It isn't so much that police can firmly identify the suspect; it is what they can eliminate that helps, Flink said.
"Due to the nature of the picture, I'm hoping they can enhance it and print it out so that I can hand it out to my officers," Lambert said.
Besides videotapes from the Davis-Riley case, forensic examiners are also looking over video from a sodomy case caught on tape last week on the Country Club Plaza.
Investigators believe the video in each case will help solve the crimes.
E-Mail: Contact Jim Flink
[Original Article on the KansasCityChannel.com web site ]